Nigeria-Italy : cooperation on desert control (Google / The Tide News)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=03/17/2008&qrTitle=%E2%80%98Italy%20ready%20to%20co-operate%20with%20Nigeria%20on%20%20desert%20control%E2%80%99&qrColumn=ENVIRONMENT

‘Italy ready to co-operate with Nigeria on desert control’

Monday, Mar 17, 2008Italy has stated its preparedness to co-operate with Nigeria to combat desert encroachment and climate change. Mr Claudio Moreno, an Italian diplomat, said this when he paid a courtesy visit to Dr Abba Ruma, the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in Abuja. Moreno was accompanied by the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Massino Biastrochi. He said the purpose of the visit was to extend, on behalf of the Italian government, an invitation to Nigeria, to participate in an international exposition to be held in Italy in 2015. The Milan Universal Exposition on “Feeding the Planet for live”, is aimed at fostering co-operation between nations to combat desertification and climate change in order to develop agriculture and reduce hunger.

Moreno said that the exposition would address issues of bio-diversity and educate participating nations on how they could take advantage of bio-technology to develop commercial agriculture. In his remarks, Ruma said Nigeria was poised to strengthen its food security efforts. He also said that the country would take advantage of the exposition to develop its agriculture in order to achieve food security.

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